We're looking back at the best of the 2010s including the best movies, TV shows, soundtracks and games. But I think we can all readily admit that there have been some stinkers the last ten years too.
Honestly there were so many bad movies the last ten years that it was hard to pick just twenty. We're genuinely baffled as to why and how some of these even exist. As creative and ambitious as the movie industry can be, these films bring you right back down to earth where it's sad and dirty and muggy. They're reminders that the movie industry is often formulaic and money-grabbing and doesn't really care about the complete trite it offers in the guise of 'entertainment'. We deserved better than these films.
With that existentialism in mind, here are the worst movies of the last decade.
The Emoji Movie
And the award for worst animated movie of the past ten years goes to the travesty that is 'The Emoji Movie.' Now we find that animated features, like Christmas movies, tend to be let off the hook a bit more. But 'The Emoji Movie' is so devoid of humour, imagination or really any feeling whatsoever, it makes you mourn for how blatantly corporeal and uncaring Hollywood can be. *insert poop emoji*
Jack & Jill
2011 movie 'Jack and Jill' has to be one of the worst abominations Adam Sandler has ever beset upon us - though we do have one more movie from the actor in our picks. It sees a successful advertising exec reunited with his needy twin sister and it was genuinely difficult to watch, it was that bad. One considers pulling one's eye sockets from one's skull rather than finish it.
The Ridiculous 6
We also considered including 'Grown Ups 2' in this list but after two Adam Sandler movies, you get the point. He really doesn't give a crap. Now hopefully that will change come his apparent Oscar contender 'Uncut Gems'. But it'll take a lot for us to forgive him for western-comedy (if you can even call it either) Netflix original 'The Ridiculous 6'.
Dirty Grandpa
And now for another actor who doesn't seem to give a damn anymore - Robert DeNiro (even if he is getting all the praise now for 'The Irishman'). Widely considered the worst film of 2016 and quite possibly one of the worst ever made, the actor plays an inappropriate grandfather to Zac Efron's character. Its gross-out humor wasn't funny and its offensiveness was purposeless.
The Last Airbender
Like 'Dirty Grandpa', 'The Last Airbender' is also considered one of the worst movies of all time. And it's a shame because it's based on the animated TV series 'Avatar: The Last Airbender', which is actually pretty great. And it's doubly disappointing because it's directed by the mastermind behind 'The Sixth Sense', M. Night Shyamalan. It swept the parody Razzie Awards in 2010, with five "wins" including Worst Picture.
The Human Centipede III: Final Sequence
Of all our picks, this is the most upsetting for just existing. Like what messed up individual (Tom Six, that's who) would make one movie based on this concept, let alone three?? The series stars Dieter Laser as a German surgeon who joins people surgically, mouth to anus, to form a "human centipede". In this one the experiment is extended (literally - sorry...) to prison inmates. Sadistic, vomit-inducing and horrific.
Transformers: Age of Extinction
Of all the 'Transformers' movies, 'Age of Extinction' - the next-to-last one - was the most terrible. One had hoped it'd be a biggy for Irish star Jack Reynor, but no. The movie was over-bloated and completely incomprehensible, an explosion of CGI, flying metal parts and concerned human faces. And then that whole "Romeo and Juliet" plot device was just an embarrassment. Really, they weren't even trying anymore - yet still gross.
TIE: London has Fallen & Gods of Egypt
Remember when Gerard Butler cared? Well, it's been a while as such films as 'Den of Thieves' and 'Geostorm' could just as easily fall into the worst movies of the last decade category. However 'London has Fallen' and 'Gods of Egypt', the latter a cheap attempt to recreate the success of '300' and the former just a mess of an action movie, were the worst offenders. Let's not forget Butler also played a leprechaun in another pick on our list - 'Movie 43'.
Fifty Shades of Grey – all three but especially Fifty Shades Darker
We want to make sure, people don't actually take these movies seriously, right? I mean they're not only illogical and terribly written, they also promote really messed up, sadistic relationships. At least the trilogy has come and gone. For us, the second was the worst as it saw Jamie Dornan emerge from a helicopter crash, without a mark on him, then reunite with Dakota Johnson in the next scene. What was even the point of that sequence??
Zoolander 2
It's not that 'Zoolander 2' was the sequel that nobody asked for. It's that there's one overarching description comes to mind as one watches it: pathetic. Even as the characters Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) make fun of themselves for being out of touch, the truth is, they are. The first 'Zoolander' was a modern comedy classic but in 'No. 2', every single joke fell flat. It was just sad.
Suicide Squad
Was 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' a bad movie? Absolutely. Was it one of the worst of the decade? We think not. But another superhero movie (or anti-hero - because they definitely weren't the "bad guys", as they insisted like a million times in that film) released the same year does hold that honour. 'Suicide Squad' was a mess of a movie, poorly edited with a plot that was all over the place and characters with zero substance.
The Dirt
Look, no disrespect to the actual Mötley Crüe here. The guys are legends. But 'The Dirt' on Netflix, based on the band's autobiography, is an awful, awful movie. First off, it's totally miscast, particularly in lead Douglas Booth. Then there's the cringeworthy, try-hard dialogue and hollow shock factor it totally relies upon to make any kind of connection to the audience. It's cheap, both in production quality and its plot. It's dull and dumb and genuinely a waste of time.
Ben-Hur
Of all the complete and utter shite... Seriously, the 2016 movie 'Ben-Hur' just makes us mad. Why oh why did someone make this movie? Shame on you Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for turning it into a cash cow! (this is in fact the studio's third 'Ben-Hur' movie) Jack Huston, Tony Kebbell and Morgan Freeman star but that's no help. It was rightly one of 2016's biggest summer box office flops, loading up on CGI to make up for its emptiness.
After Earth
'After Earth' is the definitive movie for nepotism gone horribly wrong. Perhaps for all movies ever, not even just of the last ten years. Set in the future, it sees a father and son struggle for survival when they get stranded on Earth. Not only is Will Smith totally devoid of charm in the film but son Jaden Smith cannot act and fortunately, speedily retired from the movie industry after. 'After Earth' is our second M. Night Shyamalan pick for the worst movies of the 2010s.
Rings
There have been a number of terrible and completely needless horror flicks in the last decade, with 'Insidious: The Last Key' and 'Ouija' (which holds a score of, oof, 6% on Rotten Tomatoes') among them. But for us, the third 'The Ring' movie was the worst. I mean, it opens with baddy Samara emerging from a frickin' pilot's radar screen. Couple that with D-list actors, no atmosphere and zero effort to do something of interest with the plot, and you've got one baaad movie.
Fantastic Four
The 2005 'Fantastic Four' wasn't even that great and its sequel 'Rise of the Silver Surfer' was pretty bleh. But you gotta get that comic book movie dough, right? Still, when your movie is so bad the sequel is cancelled and you lose said the rights to the property, something went horribly wrong. Dull, uneven and humorless, its production issues were blatantly apparent and not even the cast could save it. The film swept up at the 2016 Razzies alongside 'Fifty Shades of Grey'.
Sex & the City 2
I know a lot of women out there will be protesting the inclusion of 'Sex and the City 2' here. For many, it is a guilty pleasure. But you have to admit, it a totally unnecessary and terrible movie. It's hollow and materialistic, plus it's frequently anti-women as well as borderline racist and Islamophobic. It's also cringe-worthy and over-indulgent. You just wish they had just left it after the first movie and not for this to be the series' legacy.
The Happytime Murders
'The Happytime Murders' had a lot of things going for it. 'Team America' had gotten the R-rated puppet movie down pat previously. Plus its director was Brian Henson (son of renowned puppet master Jim Henson), who'd previously directed the lovable The Muppet Christmas Carol'. But 'The Happytime Murders' proved dumb, pointlessly crass, and disappointing. It was panned by critics and got a no-show from audiences.
Nine Lives
'Nine Lives' is all the more repulsive in the wake of the Kevin Spacey allegations. But it was also just an awful movie to begin with. It's based on a totally unoriginal concept whereby the mind of a hotshot business mogul gets transported into the body of a cat he gets for his daughter's birthday. From there it proceeds to be totally devoid of humour or likability, and totally dragged, in spite being under an hour and a half long. The CGI was terrible too.
Movie 43
Most people don't really remember 'Movie 43', probably because they've repressed it. Composed of a bunch of shorts that are essentially pitches for feature film ideas, it was painfully unfunny. And with stars like Emma Stone, Hugh Jackman, Chris Pratt, Halle Berry, Kate Winslet and Richard Gere, audiences were completely baffled at how utterly devoid of charm it was. It was simply grotesque.
